Private lessons provide students with more personalized instruction, namely: a chance to focus on the development of an opening repertoire, review of tournament games, and addressing the typical mistakes/areas of insufficient knowledge or skill particular to that student.
For maximal benefit, we recommend combining private lessons with one group class per week.
Lessons are available in-home, at the Marshall Chess Club, or online (rates are dependent on mode of instruction).
To request a private lesson, please send a message to the teacher of your choice using the form below with the following:
- Brief information about the student's background in chess (how long they have been playing, where they've received instruction, rating etc).
- Preferred dates and times
- Preferred location (In-home, online or at the chess club)
Online lessons are conducted via Skype or Gchat for the audio and a chess website like chess.com where student and teacher can view and make moves on a shared analysis board. Students can register for a free account on chess.com to do lessons. It is fairly simple to set up the technical conditions for an online lesson.
Online lessons are appropriate for students age nine and higher (adult learners are welcome!). For children age 7-8 the presence of an adult throughout the lesson may be necessary.
The standard length of a chess lesson is one hour. Advanced students can also request to do longer lessons.
You can prepay for a lesson using Venmo, Paypal, Quickpay by Zelle, etc.
The class is a mixture of lesson, play against fellow students, and game review. In the "play" portion, the kids will usually be playing from pre-selected positions based on the theme of the day. Coaches are able to observe games in progress and do a review once games are completed. Our overarching goal is to improve kids' thinking process, by teaching them fundamental principles that lead to better decision-making, but the focus of each class can vary across many chess themes: piece improvement, trading, planning, endgame play, etc, as well as practical advice on how to manage time, when and where to calculate, etc.
Our classes are two hours long. We may add sections for younger/less experienced players in the future for a shorter duration.
While most of our students attend weekly, the attendance policy is flexible and there is no need to prepay for any number of classes in advance. It is perfectly fine to try out one class to see if you'd like to continue. We simply request that regular students inform us when they cannot make a class.
The first step is to fill out the form on this page, providing basic information such as your child's age, level, and which class you'd like to join. We will reach out to you by email to discuss any questions you may have and to give further information on how classes work.
Payment is accepted via Zelle, Venmo, or Paypal. All our classes are two hours in duration and cost $50/class, except the most advanced class (1800+), which is $70.
Our goal is one teacher for eight students. When we exceed that, there will normally be a second teacher present. Our recent class sizes have ranged from eight-ten students.
We endeavor to create groups that are harmonious by both age and chess level. Our 1500-1750 class has kids from 5th-7th grade (most of them are 11-12 years old). However, of course chess skill is the first prerequisite for group enrollment. While there may be exceptions, even in the least advanced group the students will be age eight and above.
We do try to adhere to the rating requirement for each class, as it's best for each individual student and the group as a whole if the class has a narrower range of skill level. If you feel your child may be a candidate for an exception, please inquire about that via email.
Yes, there are no restrictions on enrollment. Online classes will continue as long as there is demand for them.
Yes, there are a few technical components of it, like having an account on one of the popular chess platforms we use for instruction. All these accounts can be made for free. Zoom is used for video. All the necessary steps will be explained thoroughly upon registration. It's a big priority for us for the classes to run smoothly from the technical point of view, so your child will be well prepared before beginning class.